Rendaku

Rendaku (連濁, Japanese pronunciation: [ɾendakɯ], lit. 'sequential voicing') is a morphophonological phenomenon in Japanese where a morpheme that starts with a voiceless consonant (such as /t k s h/) has its pronunciation changed to start with a voiced consonant (such as /d ɡ z b/) when the morpheme is used as the second (or later) portion of a compound word. For example, the morpheme kami (紙, paper) starts with the voiceless consonant /k/ when used as an independent word or as the first element of a compound word, but this is replaced with the corresponding voiced consonant /ɡ/ when this morpheme is used as the second element of the compound word origami. In modern Japanese, rendaku is common but at times unpredictable, with certain words unaffected by it. While kanji do not indicate rendaku, it is marked in kana by adding the dakuten (voicing mark).

Effects

Consonants (in Hepburn) undergoing rendaku

Unvoiced		Voiced
k	→	g
s, sh	→	z, j
t, ch, ts	→	d, j, z
h, f	→	b

Rendaku replaces a voiceless obstruent with a corresponding voiced sound. This is seen most straightforwardly in the case of the voiceless plosive [t], which in the context of rendaku becomes the voiced plosive [d], retaining the same manner and place of articulation as the original consonant. However, rendaku can also cause additional changes depending on the sounds involved.

In the standard variety of Japanese, rendaku has the following effects. Note that in the context of Japanese phonology, there are a number of cases where sounds that seem distinct to English speakers, and that have distinct spellings in Hepburn romanization, are analyzed as allophones of a single phoneme.

Consonants affected by rendaku

Original consonant			Consonant after rendaku
Phoneme	Allophones	Romanization	Phoneme	Allophones	Romanization
/t/	[t]	t	/d/	[d]	d
	[ts]	ts	/d/ or /z/	[dz] or [z]	z
	[tɕ]	ch		[dʑ] or [ʑ]	j
/s/	[s]	s	/z/	[dz] or [z]	z
	[ɕ]	sh		[dʑ] or [ʑ]	j
/k/	[k]	k	/ɡ/	[ɡ] or [ŋ]	g
/h/	[ɸ]	f	/b/	[b]	b
	[h]	h
	[ç]

The voiceless affricates [ts tɕ] are commonly analyzed as allophones of /t/. The phonemic analysis of their voiced outcomes is complicated by a phonetic merger. Originally, [ts tɕ] corresponded to voiced affricate sounds [dz dʑ], whereas [s ɕ] corresponded to voiced fricative sounds [z ʑ]. However, the historical distinction between [dz dʑ] and [z ʑ] has been lost in the Tokyo-based standard (though not in all regional varieties of Japanese). The merged sounds may be pronounced either as voiced affricates or voiced fricatives, regardless of etymology. As a result of this merge, the phonetic sequence [(d)zɯ] represents a neutralization of historical /du/ and /zu/, and [(d)ʑi] represents a neutralization of historical /di/ and /zi/.

In the context of rendaku, it is possible to interpret dialects with the merger as possessing an underlying phonemic distinction betweeen /du di/ and /zu zi/ that becomes neutralized on the phonetic level as [dzɯ dʑi].

It is possible to characterize rendaku in terms of its effect on a morpheme's Japanese kana spelling: it adds the dakuten (voicing mark) to the first kana of the affected morpheme. The relevant graphemes are shown in the tables below (excluding yōon digraphs, which are formed by taking an i-column kana and placing a small ya/yu/yo kana after it).

Hiragana monographs (gojūon) affected by rendaku

	Before rendaku
	a	i	u	e	o
K	か ka [ka]	き ki [ki]	く ku [kɯ]	け ke [ke]	こ ko [ko]
S	さ sa [sa]	し shi [ɕi]	す su [sɯ]	せ se [se]	そ so [so]
T	た ta [ta]	ち chi [tɕi]	つ tsu [tsɯ]	て te [te]	と to [to]
H	は ha [ha]	ひ hi [çi]	ふ fu [ɸɯ]	へ he [he]	ほ ho [ho]
	After rendaku (with dakuten)
	a	i	u	e	o
G	が ga [ɡa]	ぎ gi [ɡi]	ぐ gu [ɡɯ]	げ ge [ɡe]	ご go [ɡo]
Z	ざ za [(d)za]	じ ji [(d)ʑi]	ず zu [(d)zɯ]	ぜ ze [(d)ze]	ぞ zo [(d)zo]
D	だ da [da]	ぢ ji [(d)ʑi]	づ zu [(d)zɯ]	で de [de]	ど do [do]
B	ば ba [ba]	び bi [bi]	ぶ bu [bɯ]	べ be [be]	ぼ bo [bo]

Katakana monographs (gojūon) affected by rendaku

	Before rendaku
	a	i	u	e	o
K	カ ka [ka]	キ ki [ki]	ク ku [kɯ]	ケ ke [ke]	コ ko [ko]
S	サ sa [sa]	シ shi [ɕi]	ス su [sɯ]	セ se [se]	ソ so [so]
T	タ ta [ta]	チ chi [tɕi]	ツ tsu [tsɯ]	テ te [te]	ト to [to]
H	ハ ha [ha]	ヒ hi [çi]	フ fu [ɸɯ]	ヘ he [he]	ホ ho [ho]
	After rendaku (with dakuten)
	a	i	u	e	o
G	ガ ga [ɡa]	ギ gi [ɡi]	グ gu [ɡɯ]	ゲ ge [ɡe]	ゴ go [ɡo]
Z	ザ za [(d)za]	ジ ji [(d)ʑi]	ズ zu [(d)zɯ]	ゼ ze [(d)ze]	ゾ zo [(d)zo]
D	ダ da [da]	ヂ ji [(d)ʑi]	ヅ zu [(d)zɯ]	デ de [de]	ド do [do]
B	バ ba [ba]	ビ bi [bi]	ブ bu [bɯ]	ベ be [be]	ボ bo [bo]

Examples

Rendaku can be seen in the following words:

ひと + ひと → ひと-びと (人々) (iteration)

hito + hito → hitobito ("person" + "person" → "people")

いけ (from verb 生ける (いける)) + はな → いけばな

ike + hana → ikebana ("keep alive" + "flower" → "flower arrangement")

とき + とき → とき-どき (時々) (iteration, reduplication)

toki + toki → tokidoki ("time" + "time" → "sometimes")

て + かみ → て-がみ

te + kami → tegami ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")

おり + かみ → おり-がみ

ori + kami → origami ("fold" + "paper" → "paperfolding")

はな + ひ → はな-び

hana + hi → hanabi ("flower" + "fire" → "firework")

はな + ち → はな-ぢ

hana + chi → hanaji ("nose" + "blood" → "nosebleed")

まき + すし → まき-ずし

maki + sushi → makizushi ("roll" + "sushi" → "nori-wrapped sushi") (Rendaku is prevalent with words that end in sushi.)

やま + てら → やま-でら

yama + tera → Yama-dera ("mountain" + "temple")

こころ + つかい → こころ-づかい

kokoro + tsukai → kokorozukai ("heart" + "using" → "consideration" or "thoughtfulness")

おぼろ + つき → おぼろ-づき

oboro + tsuki → oborozuki ("haze" + "moon" → "hazy moon")

In some cases, rendaku varies depending on syntax. For instance, the suffix tōri (〜通り, "road, following"), from tōru (通る, "to go, to follow"), is pronounced as -tōri (〜とおり) following the perfective verb, as in omotta-tōri (思った通り, "as I thought"), but is pronounced as -dōri (〜どおり, with rendaku) when following a noun, as in yotei-dōri (予定通り, "as planned, according to schedule") or, semantically differently – more concretely – Muromachi-dōri (室町通, "Muromachi Street").

Rendaku occurs not only on single-root elements, but also "multi-root" elements, those that are themselves composed of smaller elements. These morphemes may be of Chinese origin (see kango) or more recent loanwords (see gairaigo) rather than strictly native.

ひら + か-な → ひら-が-な

hira + kana → hiragana ("plain" + "character", compare かた-か-な katakana, which does not undergo rendaku)

きゃく + ふ-とん → きゃく-ぶ-とん

kyaku + futon → kyakubuton ("guest" + "bedding" → "bedding for guests")

Here, futon is a kango and compound of fu + ton

ろ-てん + ふ-ろ → ろ-てん-ぶ-ろ

roten + furo → rotenburo ("outdoor" + "bath" → "outdoor bath")

ゆめ-み + ここ-ち → ゆめ-み-ごこ-ち

yumemi + kokochi → yumemigokochi ("dreaming" + "state of mind" → "dream state")

おぼろ + つき-よ → おぼろ-づき-よ

oboro + tsukiyo → oborozukiyo ("haze" + "moonlit night" → "hazy moonlit night")

Here, tsukiyo is a compound word, composed of tsuki ("moon") and yo ("night")

いろ + ちゃ-や → いろ-ぢゃ-や

iro + chaya → irojaya ("lust" + "teahouse" → "brothel teahouse")

Here, chaya is a compound word, composed of cha ("tea") and ya ("shop"); cha by itself generally doesn't undergo rendaku, but chaya frequently does

ぼん + ちょう-ちん → ぼん-ぢょう-ちん

Bon + chōchin → Bonjōchin ("Bon" + "lantern" → "Bon lantern")

Here, chōchin is a Chinese borrowing, composed of chō ("portable") and chin ("lamp")

おや + かい-しゃ → おや-がい-しゃ

oya + kaisha → oyagaisha ("parent" + "company" → "parent company")

Here, kaisha is a kango, composed of kai ("gathering") and sha ("company")

かぶしき + かいしゃ → かぶしきがいしゃ

kabushiki + kaisha → kabushikigaisha ("stock-type" + "company" → "joint-stock company")

あめ + カッパ → あま-ガッパ

ame + kappa → amagappa ("rain" + "raincoat" → "raincoat")

Here, kappa is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word capa ("cloak; cape")

いろは + カルタ → いろは-ガルタ

iroha + karuta → irohagaruta

Here, karuta is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word carta ("card")

みず + キセル → みず-ギセル

mizu + kiseru → mizugiseru ("water" + "pipe" → "hooka")

Here, kiseru is a gairaigo, from the Khmer word khsiə ("pipe")

For certain morphemes that begin with the morae chi (ち) and tsu (つ), their rendaku forms begin with the morae ji and zu, spelled in hiragana as ぢ and づ, which explains the use of these kana in contrast to the identically pronounced じ and ず (see yotsugana). This is not a strict rule, however, and is relaxed in certain older compounds or names, especially those that are not easily recognized as compounds.

Rendaku occurs not only in compound nouns, but also in compounds with adjectives, verbs or continuative/nominal forms of verbs.

め + ふ-く → め-ぶ-く

me + fu-ku → mebu-ku ("sprout" + "to blow" → "to bud")

おとこ + きら-い → おとこ-ぎら-い

otoko + kira-i → otokogira-i ("male person" + "dislike; hatred" → "dislike for men; misandry")

おんな + す-き → おんな-ず-き

onna + su-ki → onnazu-ki ("female person" + "liking; fondness" → "fondness for women; woman lover")

お-き + さ-り → お-き-ざ-り

o-ki + sa-ri → o-ki-za-ri ("putting" + "leaving" → "deserting")

くる-い + さ-き → くる-い-ざ-き

kuru-i + sa-ki → kuru-i-za-ki ("being in disarray" + "blooming" → "unseasonable blooming")

うす- + きたな-い → うす-ぎたな-い

usu- + kitana-i → usugitana-i ("faint-; light-" + "dirty" → "dirty")

くち + きたな-い → くち-ぎたな-い

kuchi + kitana-i → kuchigitana-i ("mouth" + "dirty" → "foulmouthed; scurrilous")

た-ち + とま-る → た-ち-どま-る

ta-chi + toma-ru → ta-chi-doma-ru ("standing; starting; igniting" + "to stop" → "to stop")

Origin

The voiced obstruent consonants of modern Japanese go back to prenasalized voiced obstruents of Old Japanese. Rendaku may have originated from the fusion of consonants with preceding nasal sounds derived from reduction of the genitive postpositional particle no (の) or the dative postpositional particle ni (に): for example, according to this hypothesis, a form such as yamadori (やまどり, copper pheasant) might go back to an original yama-no-tori "mountain-GEN bird". This explanation could help account for why rendaku is not found consistently in all compound words: if some compounds were originally formed with no or ni, but others were formed with simple juxtaposition of two roots, then rendaku would be expected to have arisen only in the first category of compounds, but not in the second. (Whatever its origin, by the Old Japanese period rendaku had already become a grammatical process distinct from constructions with no or ni, as shown by the occurrence of forms such as nadori "your bird", where a phrase with no would be ungrammatical, since the genitive of the pronoun na "you" was always formed with the particle ga.)

Native Japanese words do not begin with a voiced obstruent or sibilant (b, d, g, z, etc.). However, after the 4th century, Japan started borrowing words and characters from Chinese. Since many Chinese words begin with voiced consonants, applying rendaku to those words would cause ambiguity (compare 試験 shiken "examination" with 事件 jiken "incident"). Compound words consisting of purely Chinese words tend not to exhibit rendaku, unlike compounds consisting of native Japanese words, but there are many exceptions.

Rendaku in Tohoku dialects

In many Tohoku dialects, rendaku can be expressed in the form of prenasalized voicing. This prenasalized sound production was not uniform at all, and depending on the speakers and the words pronounced, significant variations were observed.

There was a relationship between the rate of prenasalized voicing and the speakers’ age: older individuals display it at a higher rate than younger individuals. On the other hand, differences in the speakers’ gender and socioeconomic status did not affect the rate of prenasalized voicing.

Examples of allophonic variation

For example, “[kata] ‘shoulder’ and [haka] ‘tomb’ are pronounced [kada] and [haga]” in Tohoku dialect.

The extensive examples of allophonic variation in the Tohoku dialect are as follows:

Allophonic Variation

Header text	word-initial		intervocalic
a.	K/t/ K/take/	[taɡe̝] ‘bamboo	K/hata/	[hɑdɑ] ‘flag’
	K/k/ K/kaki/	[kɑɡɨ] ‘persimmon’	K/gake/	[ɡɑɡe̝] ‘cliff ’
	K/c/ K/cume/	[tsɯme̝] ‘fingernail’	K/macu/	[mɑdzɯ] ‘town
	K/č/ K/čoko/	[tɕoɡo] ‘saké cup	K/oča/	[odʑɑ] ‘tea’
b.	K/p/ K/paN/	[pɑ̃nː] ‘bread’	K/kopii/	[kopɨː] ‘(photo)copy
	K/s/ K/sake/	[sɑɡe̝] ‘saké’	K/kasa/	[kɑsɑ] ‘umbrella
	K/š/ K/šake/	[ɕɑɡe̝] ‘salmon’	K/bašo/	[bɑɕo] ‘place’
c.	K/b/ K/baN/	[bɑ̃nː] ‘evening’	K/baba/	[bɑ̃mbɑ] ‘grandmother’
	K/d/ K/dake/	[dɑɡe̝] ‘only’	K/mado/	[mɑ̃ndo] ‘window
	K/g/ K/gaki/	[ɡɑɡɨ] ‘brat’	K/kagi/	[kɑ̃ŋɡɨ] ‘key’
	K/ȷ̌/ K/ȷ̌oNda/	[dʑõnːdɑ] ‘skillful’	K/maȷ̌o/	[mɑ̃ɲdʑo] ‘witch’
	K/z/ K/zaru/	[dzɑɾɯ] ‘colaner’	K/kazu/	[kɑ̃ndzɯ] ‘number’

Properties blocking rendaku

Research into defining the range of situations affected by rendaku has largely been limited to finding circumstances (outlined below) which cause the phenomenon not to manifest.

Lyman's law

Lyman's law states that there can be no more than one voiced obstruent (a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow) within a morpheme. Therefore, no rendaku can occur if the second element already contains a voiced obstruent. This is considered to be one of the most fundamental of the rules governing rendaku.

yama + kado → Yamakado (surname) 山門（やまかど）, not *Yamagado やまがど ("mountain" + "gate" → place name) (* indicates a non-existent form)

hitori + tabi → hitoritabi, not *hitoridabi ("one person" + "travel" → "traveling alone")

yama + kaji → yamakaji, not *yamagaji ("mountain" + "fire" → "mountain fire")

tsuno + tokage → tsunotokage, not *tsunodokage ("horn" + "lizard" → "horned lizard")

There are, however, exceptions to Lyman's law. For example, nawa + hashigo is nawabashigo, not nawahashigo. Although this law is named after Benjamin Smith Lyman, who independently propounded it in 1894, it is really a re-discovery. The Edo period linguists Kamo no Mabuchi (1765) and Motoori Norinaga (1767–1798) separately and independently identified the law during the 18th century.

Lexical properties

Similar to Lyman's law, it has been found that for some lexical items, rendaku does not manifest if there is a voiced obstruent near the morphemic boundary, including preceding the boundary.

Semantics

Rendaku also tends not to manifest in compounds which have the semantic value of "X and Y" (so-called dvandva or copulative compounds):

yama + kawa > yamakawa "mountains and rivers"

Compare this to yama + kawa > yamagawa "mountain river".

Branching constraint

Rendaku is also blocked by what is called a "branching constraint". In a right-branching compound, the process is blocked in the left-branching elements:

mon + [shiro + chō] > monshirochō, not *monjirochō ("family crest" + ["white" + "butterfly"] > "cabbage butterfly")

but

[o + shiro] + washi > ojirowashi (["tail" + "white"] + "eagle" > "white-tailed eagle")

Cyclical application

The branching constraint analysis could be considered a violation of the Atom Condition, which states that "in lexical derivations from X, only features realized on X are accessible." An alternative view proposes that the process applies cyclically.

[nuri + hashi] + ire > nuribashiire ([lacquered chopstick] case, "case for lacquered chopsticks")

nuri + [hashi + ire] > nurihashiire (lacquered [chopstick case], "lacquered case for chopsticks")

This could be seen as the voicing between hashi and ire staying unrealized but still activating Lyman's Law.

Further considerations

Despite a number of rules which have been formulated to help explain the distribution of the effect of rendaku, there still remain many examples of words in which rendaku manifests in ways currently unpredictable. Some instances are linked with a lexical property as noted above but others may obey laws yet to be discovered. Rendaku thus remains partially unpredictable, sometimes presenting a problem even to native speakers, particularly in Japanese names, where rendaku occurs or fails to occur often without obvious cause. In many cases, an identically written name may either have or not have rendaku, depending on the person. For example, 中田 may be read in a number of ways, including both Nakata and Nakada.

Voicing of preceding consonant

In some cases, voicing of preceding consonants also occurs, as in sazanami (細波, ripple), which was formerly sasa-nami. This is rare and irregular, however.

Nasal and unvoiced obstruent clusters

Native speakers usually (1.3% compared to 10% of all Sino-Japanese words) do not apply rendaku to compounds with clusters of voiced nasals and unvoiced obstruents.

See also

• Consonant mutation
• Lenition
• Sandhi

References

• Endō, Kunimoto (1981). "Hirendaku no Hōzoku no Shōchō to Sono Imi: Dakushion to Bion to no Kankei kara". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 遠藤邦基(1981)「非連濁の法則の消長とその意味―濁子音と鼻音との関係から―」(『国語国文』50-3))
• Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010). A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press.
• Irwin, Mark (April 2005). "Rendaku-based Lexical Hierarchies in Japanese: The Behaviour of Sino-Japanese Mononoms in Hybrid Noun Compounds". Journal of East Asian Linguistics. 14 (2): 121–153. doi:10.1007/s10831-004-6306-9. ISSN 0925-8558. S2CID 55842710.
• Itō, Shingo (1928). Kinsei Kokugoshi. Ōsaka: Tachikawa Bunmeidō.
• Kawahara, Shigeto (2018), "Phonology and orthography: The orthographic characterization of rendaku and Lyman's Law.", Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 3 (1): 1–24, doi:10.5334/gjgl.368
• Kubozono, Haruo (2005). "Rendaku: Its Domain and Linguistic Conditions" (PDF). In Jeroen van de Weijer; Kensuke Nanjo; Tetsuo Nishihara (eds.). Voicing in Japanese. Studies in Generative Grammar. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 5–24. doi:10.1515/9783110197686.1.5. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-12.
• Martin, Samuel E. (1987). The Japanese Language Through Time. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03729-5.
• Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0-521-36918-5.
• Suzuki, Yutaka (2004). "'Rendaku' no Koshō ga Kakuritsu suru made: Rendaku Kenkyūshi". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Japanese citation: 鈴木豊(2004)「「連濁」の呼称が確立するまで―連濁研究前史―」(『国文学研究』142)
• Jeroen van de Weijer (2005). Kensuke Nanjo; Tetsuo Nishihara (eds.). Voicing in Japanese. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0.
• Vance, Timothy J. (1982), "On the Origin of Voicing Alteration in Japanese Consonants", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 102 (2): 333–341
• Vance, Timothy J. (1987). An Introduction to Japanese Phonology. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-88706-361-6.
• Vance, Timothy J. (2022). Irregular Phonological Marking of Japanese Compounds. De Gruyter.
• Yamaguchi, Yoshinori (1988). "Kodaigo no Fukugō ni Kansuru: Kōsatsu, Rendaku o Megutte". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 山口佳紀(1988)「古代語の複合語に関する一考察―連濁をめぐって―」(『日本語学』7-5))

Further reading

• Haruo Kubozono. "Rendaku: Its domain and linguistic conditions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-12.. In Jeroen van de Weijer, K. Nanjo and T. Nishihara (eds.) (2005). Voicing in Japanese. Studies in Generative Grammar 84. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin. 5-24.
• Suzuki Yutaka. "Exceptions to Lyman's Law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-13.
• Vance, Timothy J.; Irwin, Mark, eds. (2016). Sequential Voicing in Japanese: Papers from the NINJAL Rendaku Project. Studies in Language Companion Series. Vol. 176. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/slcs.176. ISBN 978-90-272-5941-7. S2CID 64058981.

External links

• The Japanese Lexicon: A Rendaku Encyclopedia Archived 2016-08-25 at the Wayback Machine – National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics